That's Once
by RodianSinger
Summary: Everyone knows that Fluttershy is too nice for her own good. But if she doesn't stand up to the bullies of Ponyville, how does she make them leave her alone?


Fluttershy was the nicest pony in Ponyville. Even when another pony was bein mean to her, she wished them the best and never said anything bad about them. She never held a grudge or even spoke up to defend herself. Not even from Melody.

Of all the bullies in Ponyville, Melody was probably the worst. Not because of what she did, but because she chose to do it to Fluttershy. Poor sweet Fluttershy who was an easy target for just such a tormentor. Her friends urged her to stand up to Melody and defend herself, but she just didn't seem capable of anger.

Everyone else wondered how she did it. How could Fluttershy possibly be so forgiving?

They would probably never understand it.

One night, Melody was closing up shop at the spa where she worked. It was very late and the sun had disappeared over the horizon long ago. The only light outside of the spa was the moonlight that shone down and reflected off of the streets. She finished up her end of the day chores, turned out the lights and left, locking the door behind her.

Melody lived in a charming little cottage near the edge of town. It was a short walk that she had made many times in her life. Everyone in Ponyville knew it. When she reached the door to her cottage, she unlocked it and slipped inside. She closed the door behind her and searched with her hoof for the light switch.

Before she could find it, she felt a thin cord being wrapped around her neck. Before she had the chance to scream, two strong hooves pulled the cord tight, choking of her air supply. She gasped and struggled against her attacker, but to no avail. Her lungs began to burn, and her vision turned dark. Then, she blacked out.

When Melody awoke, she found herself in a narrow dark room. A series of straps, like the kind used in a hospital to hoist a patient's broken limb, ran from the floor to her wings, holding her down. But instead of the straps being attached to slings and cuffs, they were attached to thick metal rings which had been pierced through the flesh of her wings.

She couldn't help but scream, upon seeing this. And she continued to scream, hoping someone would hear. "Help! Somebody! Help me!" The straps were pulled to tight for her to stand up, or reach around to the rings. The only way that she would get free would be to rip her wings from the straps.

"Help?" She continued to scream for nearly an hour. Until her voice failed her. Then she waited. Had someone heard her? They must have. But the hours ticked by and no one came to her rescue. Eventually she realized, no one would find her. For all she knew, she was in a dungeon far beneath the ground. She had no other choice.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled at her wings, yanking them free. The pain was more intense than she had ever imagined. The feeling of her wings tearing to shreds as the thick rings tore free. She stood up, sobbing with pain, listening to the sound of her blood dripping on the stone floor.

She lurched forward taking the first few steps towards the exit.

Melody heard the suspicious crunching sound before she felt the pain. Fresh tears began to pour from her eyes when she realized that the entire floor had been covered with great big dagger like shards of glass. Glass which was now cutting and slicing at her hooves.

Instinctively, Melody jumped in the air, intending to fly over the glass. She spread her wings and tried to flap. But of course, her wings were ruined. Fresh blood spurted and she felt a stab of agony, dropping back to the ground to land on her stomach. Shards of glass cut and tore her legs and stomach when she landed, causing her to scream hoarsely as more of her blood began to flow.

Whimpering, she stood up and continued walking, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. Each step was agony, and screaming only further aggravated her tortured throat. She could do nothing but cry softly.

But the exit was near. She was almost there. Just a few more steps.

Suddenly there was a snapping sound and her left back leg exploded with pain. She didn't have to look to see the bear trap that had closed around her fetlock snapping the bone like a toothpick. The sharp edge of bone had cut through her skin and now poked out of her leg. The sudden pain caused her to pass out briefly. But she was quickly woken by the sensation of the glass shards cutting into her stomach and sides.

She picked herself back up, crying from the intense pain. And now she was held in place by the bear trap.

Just when she'd lost all hope of ever getting home, she spotted something in the darkness a little ways away. She stretched out one of her front legs and grabbed it to get a better look.

It was a glass jar, like the kind that they sold jam in at the general store. But this one was empty except for a small metal object in the bottom that rattled when she shook it. It was a key she realized, squinting at it. She reached back and felt the bear trap around her leg. Sure enough, there was a key-hole on it.

She looked back at the jar. Her hooves were too cut up ant bloody to get a good grip on the lid. She made several attempts to unscrew it before she finally gave up. Whoever had put the lid on had twisted it on as tight as physically possible.

But as she examined it more closely she was able to make out two slits that had been cut in the lid in the shape of an X. It looked just about the right size...yes. She pushed her hoof against the center of the X. The triangles of metal bent away easily creating an opening just big enough for her hoof. She reached the key easily and grabbed it.

But when she went to draw her hoof out, she found that she couldn't. The sharp inward bent edges had created a one-way opening which trapped her hoof in the jar. When she pulled, the razor sharp edges dug deeply into her flesh and stayed there.

She cried pitifully. Why was this happening to her? Who was doing this? She was no closer to freedom than she had been when she found the jar. The door was mere inches away, but she couldn't move because of the bear trap. And the key to the bear trap was right there in her hoof, but her hoof was trapped in the jar. Freedom was so close...and yet out of reach.

No. She thought, with a sudden rush of determination, she would escape. Making her choice, she raised the jar high above her head and brought it down on the floor, smashing it to smithereens.

That did it. The key was free. The lid of the jar was still firmly clamped around her wrist, but the rest of it was gone, joined with the rest of the broken glass that littered the floor.

Melody sobbed with relief when the key fit into the hole on the bear trap and the trap sprang open. With the spike removed from her flesh the fresh wounds began to bleed profusely, and each step caused the muscles on her leg to bulge, pushing against the lid of the jar and cutting deeper into her skin, although she hardly noticed. She limped the last few steps to the door and reached out to the doorknob with her good front hoof. To her relief, it swung open easily, and she limped through the doorway into the room beyond.

After the darkness of the chamber that she'd left, the well lit room was blinding, and before her eyes could adjust, the intense pain and blood loss caused her to pass out.

Melody awoke lying in a pony hospital bed on her back. Her two bad legs were tied down to the metal rails with many leather straps. Her other two legs were left free except for a piece of string tied at one end to each limb, with the other ends disappearing over the side of the bed. Across her lap was a bed-table which was clipped to the rails at her sides. A single bowl of steaming hot soup sat on the table.

She struggled against her bonds, and was surprised to hear the sound of an electric motor behind her. This sound was accompanied by a strange pulling sensation at her mane. She stopped struggling and held still. The sound and sensation ceased immediately.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Came a strange voice.

Melody turned to see who her captor was, and got the shock of her life.

"Fluttershy?" She asked, not quite believing her eyes.

"Yes?" Fluttershy replied, in that same soft voice she always used.

"Let me go". Melody demanded, fighting the straps once more. Again there was the strange sound and feeling. It felt as though her whole mane was being pulled on at once.

"I wouldn't do that". Fluttershy repeated. "These strings," She pointed to the strings around Melody's legs. "Are attached to an electric hand mixer behind you, which your mane is wrapped around. The longer you struggle, the tighter it will pull".

Melody stopped struggling. "What do you want?" She asked softly.

"I want what I want from every other animal". Fluttershy replied. "To be your doctor. Now drink your soup".

"Please". Melody begged. "I want to go home".

"Not until you finish your soup".

"I wanna go home". Melody sobbed.

"Finish your soup" Fluttershy repeated, an edge creeping into her voice. Reluctantly, Melody took her first sip of soup.

Despite her situation, Melody had to acknowledge that the soup was delicious. But there was something... a strange under taste that she couldn't quite place. She took a second sip, and a third. Perhaps if she drank it all, Fluttershy would let her go home. Just as the thought crossed her mind, she felt a horrible wrenching in her stomach. She coughed and gagged and vomited violently all over herself. It was only then that she saw the bottle of ipecac on the shelves against the wall. A quarter of its contents were gone, presumably mixed into the soup that Melody was now drinking.

"Don't stop now". Fluttershy urged. "You're not finished yet".

"Please". Melody gasped.

"Drink". Fluttershy ordered.

Without thinking, Melody made a swipe at the bowl, but stopped when she felt her mane tightening in the mixer.

"I told you not to do that". Fluttershy said. "Now drink".

Crying, Melody took a large gulp of soup, hoping to finish it as quickly as possible. The large gulp turned out to be a bad idea, which she realized when she vomited a second time this one more violent and more painful than the last. Her throat burned and her eyes watered.

"I can't...finish". She gasped.

"You have to". Fluttershy told her.

Tears streamed down Melody's face from a mixture of fear and pain. But there was only a little soup left. She could finish it. With one last swallow, she drained the bowl...and then proceeded to vomit until her stomach was empty. She dry heaved for a few moments, bringing up nothing but blood. When the tremors finally stopped, her throat was raw and bleeding, and she was coated in her own vomit.

"There. It's done." She gasped. "Can I go now?

"No". Fluttershy said casually, whisking away the table and the empty bowl. "I still have to take care of you".

"Take care of me?" Melody asked fearfully.

Fluttershy came back, carrying with her a large metal can. "You're very hurt, and I'm a doctor, so it's my job to take care of you". She pulled the vomit-covered blanket off Melody and tossed it in the corner. Melody got her first good look at the wounds that covered her stomach. They were deeper and uglier than she'd ever imagined, with jagged shards of glass sticking out here and there. Fluttershy began removing the pieces of glass as she talked. "If I don't disinfect your cuts, you could get very sick. This might hurt a little."

It certainly did hurt. A lot. The glass didn't come out cleanly. It ripped and tore, reopening her wounds and causing fresh blood to flow through her fur, mingling with her vomit.

"You know, maggots are very smart creatures. They used them in medieval times to disinfect deep cuts. They eat the bad flesh and leave the good". Fluttershy finished picking out the glass and grabbed the can that she'd brought with her. It was filled to the top with wriggling slimy maggots. Maggots which Fluttershy was now sprinkling all over Melody's mangled front side.

"No, no, no". Melody screamed and thrashed, feeling her mane tighten even further.

Fluttershy ignored her screams, emptying the can and tossing it away. "Now, she said, just let the maggots do what they do".

Melody stopped struggling and watched in horror as the maggots found her open wounds and crawled inside. Within just a few moments most of them had disappeared. But she could still feel them, wriggling around inside of her, under her skin. She wanted to claw at herself, tear her skin away, and pull the maggots out.

"Fluttershy, please stop". She begged.

"Stop? We're just getting started". Fluttershy said, wheeling a cart up to the side of the bed. The cart was loaded with all sorts of scary looking medical equipment. "I've treated a lot of animal patients". She explained. "And ponies aren't much different. Now let's do something about that leg".

Fluttershy moved to the foot of the bed and grabbed Melody's broken leg. The sudden pain brought tears to her eyes and she fought not to struggle against her. The skin on her scalp was becoming painfully tight.

"Right now, the bone is sticking out," Fluttershy was saying. "But I can fix that. Now brace yourself. I'm going to yank on your leg and try to push the bone back in at the same time". And without warning she yanked.

Melody had already screamed herself hoarse and then some, but that didn't stop her from screaming again when Fluttershy pulled her leg. After what seemed like hours, she stopped. The bone was still sticking out.

"Hmm". Fluttershy looked critically at Melody's leg. "If I can't get it back in, I'll have to take it out instead".

Those words snapped Melody out of her pain induced haze. "What?"

"I said: since the bone won't go back in, I'll have to take it out". She enunciated each word as though she were talking to a kindergartener. "Now hold still." With that she grabbed hold of the bone and pulled.

Melody screamed and thrashed. "Stop. Please stop". She begged. Fluttershy didn't listen. She continued to pull for a few minutes longer. But the bone didn't budge. She turned to the cart and grabbed something that looked like a giant pair of pliers. Melody's eyes widened at the sight. "Fluttershy, whatever you're thinking, please don't do it". She struggled, feeling her scalp tightening behind her head.

Fluttershy didn't listen. She clamped the end of the bone firmly with the pliers and wrenched it as hard as she could. It held fast for a moment and then tore free. The pain was excruciating, far worse than anything Melody had ever imagined she could feel. The bone slid out in a fountain of blood, leaving behind an empty glove of skin and muscle that was once Melody's leg. Blood spurted from her leg in torrents as Fluttershy laid the sharp piece of bone aside, and picked up a vicious looking needle attached to a length of thick black thread. Without a word, she jabbed it into the skin of Melody's leg.

"Why are you doing this?" Melody sobbed, when the shock of the pain subsided.

Fluttershy stopped sewing and looked Melody straight in the eye. "Because you're a meanie". She said. "And meanies like you need to be punished". She resumed sewing, jabbing the needle viciously into Melody's skin and drawing the thread through, making no attempt whatsoever to be gentle. Pretty soon she had a row of large messy stitches holding the hole in Melody's leg somewhat closed.

"There we go". Fluttershy said cheerfully. "That wasn't so bad was it?"

Melody could only sob. "I'm sorry". She said. "I'm sorry I was mean to you".

"That's not good enough". Fluttershy replied. "You're just apologizing because you want to leave. Not because it's the right thing to do. I gave you three chances, and then told you to apologize and you still didn't. Now you have to pay".

Melody couldn't believe. No one would. How could sweet, loving Fluttershy possibly be capable of such monstrous acts? "Three chances?" She asked.

"Remember?" Fluttershy said. "The first time you bullied me, I said: that's once. Then the second time I said: that's twice. I gave you three chances. Now you must be punished".

Now Fluttershy was moving on to Melody's other bad hoof. The one that still had the can lid around it. "Hold still". She instructed and grabbed the lid, yanking.

Melody screamed, as the metal dug deeply into her skin. The blood flowed, and the flesh tore, but the lid didn't budge. "Stop". She gasped through the pain.

"You're right. That lid's not going to come off. So I guess the whole thing will have to be removed". Fluttershy turned back to the medical cart.

"Whole thing?" Melody asked in a frightened voice.

Fluttershy turned around and Melody got a good look at the bone saw she was holding. "No". She screamed. "No don't. Please. Fluttershy don't do this".

Fluttershy stopped. "If I don't do this, you won't learn your lesson about being a meanie". She said and brought the saw down on Melody's leg.

Melody screamed and thrashed against her bindings as the saw cut easily through her skin to the bone. Then came the awful grinding feeling of her bone being cut all the way through. Even as she struggled (pointlessly) she felt her mane being pulled tighter and tighter. So tight that her eyelids were being lifted away from her eyes.

"There". Fluttershy said at last. "Setting down the bone saw and holding up Melody's severed hoof with the lid still around it. Blood gushed from her hoof less stump to combine with the vomit and maggots and broken glass that already covered her. Now Fluttershy had disappeared beyond Melody's line of sight. Melody tried to turn her head, but her mane was pulled too tight. She couldn't move it an inch.

Fluttershy came back into view, holding in her mouth a white hot iron. Melody screamed and struggled when she realized what the iron was for. Her skin sizzled as Fluttershy pressed it against her raw stump, cauterizing the raw, open wound. Her fur caught fire and crisped and the smell of burning pony flesh filled the air. The burning agony was more than Melody could stand. She thrashed against the straps, flailing her good limbs and forgetting about the hand mixer behind her. The last thing she felt was the sensation of her scalp being torn clean off of her skull.

The next morning, Fluttershy planted four new rows of carrots in her garden, on an oddly shaped pony-sized plot of overturned earth.

A few days later, she was leading a mother duck and her ducklings through Ponyville square when she backed right into a griffon she'd never met before. "Hey". The griffon exclaimed. "I'm walking here".

"Oh". Fluttershy turned around. "Please excuse me. I'm sorry". She said, backing away.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry". The Griffon mimicked in a mocking tone. "Why don't you just watch where you're going doofus?" She inhaled deeply and roared in Fluttershy's face.

"That's once". Fluttershy said through her tears as she ran away. "That's once".


End file.
